One way state-run health care could widen the rich/poor divide

In Britain, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) (sometimes derided in the US as the "National Institute for Compulsory Euthanasia") decides what medical treatments will be reimbursed according to the cost of a "quality-adjusted life-year" (QALY). If the cost of the treatment, per year that it extends life, is higher than the QALY, the government won't back the treatment. The limit is £30,000, according to a 2008 Economist article. Not an awful lot of money. The purpose is to control health care costs.

A similar policy in the US would indirectly discriminate against the poor because those with the means will just pay for the treatments out-of-pocket, since they can afford it. Those without the means will be without.

Of course, this applies only to already available treatments. If the government decides some treatments are too expensive, biotech and drug companies will be less likely to develop drugs that cost more than the reimbursement rate, since the market for those drugs will shrink dramatically. Who knows what medical advances would be prevented by government rationing?

Do we really need the government to put a dollar value on how much "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" each of us has a right to? Particularly when some lives are worth more than others, by official government policy?

References:
Wikipedia page on QALY
Economist article: "NICE turns Nasty"